Kevin Mwanza

East and West African regional blocks have looked for years to create common currencies that will improve trade among member states. In recent years there has been increased cross-border mobile money use and now cryptocurrency is coming into play. For now, crypto remains off the radar for regulators and businesses in these countries. But for how long?

Nigeria, the second biggest oil producer in Africa, is likely to enjoy increased earnings from its exports by the end of 2017, when global prices are expected rise to $60 per barrel, an increase that will boost the nation’s struggling economy. Global oil prices fell from a peak of $115 per barrel in June 2014 to below $35 in February last year before recovering to $50 per barrel in December.

M-Pesa, the world’s largest mobile money network, could be the key to poverty eradication in the developing world based on its success in Kenya where almost 200,000 households headed by women are living above the poverty line as a result of the innovation, according to a study by Journal Science. The service, owned by telecom service provider Safaricom has economically improved the lives of many families in rural parts of East Africa’s biggest economy in the last six years.

South Africa will promote pupils who score 20 percent in Mathematics from Grades 7 and 9 to Grade 10 or Further Education Training (FET) after the government lowered the Mathematics pass mark from 40 percent, as the nation steps up efforts to deal with one of its biggest problems in the education sector. Authorities in the Western Cape Province however, said the mark should be adjusted to 30 percent,

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, and its neighbors, Benin, Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire banned the importation of dirty fuels from Europe, in a move that the United Nations said will save at least 250 million people from air-borne infections. They took the decision after meeting with UNEP, in a move that banned fuels that cannot be sold to European markets because of their high sulphur levels.

Ghana is gripped in tension after hackers targeted the Electoral Commission’s (EC) website, as two private radio stations said that Nana Akufo-Addo, of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), had won the election based on projections from provisional results. The NPP urged the polls body to release results that have been delayed for the first time since 2000.

Solar energy, a cheap power alternative to the vast population in sub-Saharan Africa with no access to electricity, has economically empowered the women entrepreneurs in Tanzania who work even after night falls. In Bunambiyu, a village in the northern region of East Africa’s second largest economy, solar-powered lanterns have greatly improved the social-economic lives of the rural population.

Nigeria is finalizing plans that will see it issue a Eurobond in the first quarter of 2017, a first since 2013 for the Africa’s second biggest economy. The $1 billion Eurobond is part of the government’s efforts to plug a growing budget deficit and stimulate growth in its economy, which slumped into recession in August. The rise in global oil prices last week to $55, the highest this year and expectations within the international community that the struggling economy is adopting reforms

Johannesburg-based startup, Onyx Connect, is set to become the first firm on in Africa to manufacture smartphones when its starts rolling out its phones in the first quarter of 2017 to capitalize on the rich African market where high prices have been a major hurdle to handset ownership. The firm, with a $10.5 million in funding, will produce the handsets under a licensing deal with American tech giant, Google.

Nigeria has signed a deal with Morocco to construct Trans-African gas pipeline that will connect the continent’s largest oil producer to Europe’s lucrative gas market. The 4,000 kilometer-long pipeline, to be funded by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and Ithmar Capital, a Moroccan sovereign wealth fund. The two governments signed the joint partnership during a state visit by Morocco’s King Mohammed to his Nigerian counterpart,